Student Reports

Democratic Governance to Transform a Deadlocked System

The global economic system, based on the myth of infinite growth and concentration of profits, depletes the earth's resources, increases inequality and repeatedly fuels political and social crises.
Faced with these challenges, current political governance arrangements do not meet the citizens' expectations and needs. They also fail to regulate social and economic interactions towards sustainable development.
Within the margins of the dominant system, a growing number of stakeholders are launching innovative and meaningful initiatives from the local to the global level. These stakeholders are demonstrating their commitment to human-centered development guided by the respect for fundamental rights, social responsibility, social justice and conservation of the environment.
Yet these initiatives fail to reorient the dominant model systemically. This raises the urgent need for drivers of real change. The objective is to create an enabling environment to connect these initiatives, decompartmentalise them and promote their development.
Democratic governance plays the role of an engine operating in order to meet this aim; it is intended to enable the orchestration of a Transition "ecosystem" where an alternative collective action to the current development model is molded. Models of societies conducive to sustainable development will be forged through the co-construction of inclusive, legitimate and responsible regulations.

The IRG's Commitment

Created in 2006 at the initiative of the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation for the Progress of Humankind, the IRG focuses on the issue of governance, that is to say, the way in which the regulations of society are being produced and implemented. It promotes democratic governance by supporting the emergence of multi-stakeholders regulations not only limited to public institutions.
In 2016, its main commitment to democratic governance is in the service of Environmental and Social Transition: governance based on citizen participation, encouraging creativity and social innovation to “do things differently”, and strengthening collective and individual responsibility with regards to the challenges of sustainable human development.
Convinced that strong collective actions are a prerequisite to ambitious social transformations, the IRG works with a wide range of stakeholders (citizens, civil society, government institutions, companies, universities / think tanks). It is through the interaction between all these players at local, national and international levels that new power relations can emerge in favour of just and lasting solutions.
More sustainable collective action and regulations are thus being founded on the momentum of the various transition paths (food, energy, social, political, etc.) that are being constructed each day.

The IRG in action(s)

The aim of the IRG is to identify, analyse and enhance innovative initiatives of democratic governance towards Transition. It also seeks to transform practices through working with various stakeholders (from activists to institutions) and feeding public debate.
To carry out its mission, the IRG conducts research-action activities as well as capitalisation of experiences and training. Its analysis and proposals are anchored on specific cases and Transition exercises.
In 2016, In 2016, IRG has been particularly involved together with stakeholders in two processes: “agricultural and food transition” and transition toward an ever more inclusive solidarity.”
More broadly, IRG contributes to the cross-cutting analysis of how democratic governance can achieve and accelerate progress towards sustainable and inclusive development.